


Egyptian New Year

by Aviditas04



Series: The Alexander Chronicles [6]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Kane Chronicles - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26986042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aviditas04/pseuds/Aviditas04
Summary: Following the events of the Battle of the Labyrinth, Alexander, son of Jupiter, follows the leadings of Fate and Ra to England and the Kane family. With them, he faces threats as great as he ever did with his cousin Percy, and discovers startling truths about his own history, as well as the truth behind Egypt's greatest threat: Apophis
Series: The Alexander Chronicles [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1607437





	1. Training and a Christmas in Hades

My name is Alexander Caesar Julius, Roman demigod son of Jupiter/Zeus, legacy of Venus/Aphrodite and Mars/Ares (supposedly through Aeneas, Romulus and _the_ Gaius Julius Caesar.) For the past three years, I have been living at the Greek's Camp Half-Blood with my best friend and cousin, Percy Jackson, Greek demigod son of Neptune/Poseidon. (Gahh! I hate having to use the Greek names!) Two weeks after celebrating Percy's birthday, I Lightning Traveled to the _Dorma Lupa_ , a place that I now knew was the former home of Jack London, a son of Mercury. It was the place that all Roman demigods started their journey, and it was now the place where I started taking my first steps towards acknowledging my heritage as a Roman, not Greek. I was getting an odd feeling about it, part of it was good, but another part said that there was something stirring, something _extremely dangerous_. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be quite awake yet, so I calmed down, whatever it was, it wasn't going to wake up any time soon ... I hoped.

My brother Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, newly chosen dictator of New Rome, arrived about an hour after I did, which was surprising, because I didn't leave New York until it was 1:00 in the afternoon, or 9:00 in the morning on the West Coast. "What took you so long? Did Lupa not want you to train me or something?" Lupa was the wolf that raised Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome and the initial trainer for the Roman demigods and legacies (descendants of demigods.)

He laughed. "No, Lupa's not involved much at Camp. I just a lot more work to do as dictator than I did when I was a mere centurion. Hey, what's with the staff?"

I grimaced at that, I hated that I had to use the staff just to walk and had really hoped Jason wouldn't mention it. "I had a little encounter with a Chimera just before we met the first time. It's tail bit me in the heel and it never really healed, I've had a limp ever since. Fortunately Apollo makes it so that it doesn't slow me down in a fight. Now, are we here to chat, or train?"

"Yeah, but you didn't actually think that we'd be training here, did you? Come on, bro, we're going to _my_ camp. Do you know the Caldecott Tunnel?" I nodded, and Jason smiled. "Good, then you know how to get to New Rome. Do you mind?"

I smiled and grabbed his arm before Lightning Travelling to the meridian of State Route 24, right in front of the tunnel. Although I don't know how, I _knew_ the camp was just on the other side of that hill. Of course, it helped that there before me were two guards in typical Roman armor and uniforms: i.e. a purple T-shirt and jeans. " _Salve_ , citizens, mind letting us through?" I asked.

"Dictator, is it safe?" one of the guards asked.

"Perfectly safe, Bobby, and no pranking him, understand?" Jason said. I followed my brother as he went into what looked like a maintenance tunnel, and he explained his comment. "Bobby is a son of Mercury, and one of the greatest pranksters in New Rome. A great guy, loyal, and an amazing fighter, but _always_ watch yourself around him."

I just grinned. "He sounds like his _Graecus_ brothers, Conner and Travis Stoll, they are _exactly_ the same way! Great for a laugh, but watch out if you tick them off! Do you remember the quest I was on when we met?"

Jason laughed. "How could I possibly forget? You were a little moody at the time because you'd just lost the sister of your crush."

"How did you-?"

"I'm your big brother, Alex, of course I knew! So, how did you piss off the Stolls?"

I stared at my half-brother and asked "Just what makes you think I pissed them off?" Jason just raised an eyebrow. Laughing, I told him "Actually, it was one of the Hunters of Diana. We did a game of Capture the Flag, and she pissed them off during the game. Anyway, just before the quest, they gave her a t-shirt that they claimed was a collector's item. She accepted, but when she put it on, she discovered that they had coated it in centaur's blood."

Jason shivered in response, no doubt thinking the same thing I had when I heard the tale-our most famous brother, Hercules, had died because of a piece of clothing coated in centaur blood. But neither of us could focus on it, as just then we came out of the tunnel and for the first time in my life, I gazed on Camp Jupiter with my own eyes. It looked just as it had in my dreams. A city made in the Greco-Roman style, with the Forum at the center of the city, with the military camp just on the other side of the Little Tiber from where we stood, and a hill covered in temples to the south of Nova Roma. Jason then turned to me and said, "Welcome home, Alex. This is where you belong, little brother."

* * *

For the next two and a half months, I trained with Jason, learning every thing he could teach me about Roman methods of fighting and Roman culture. When he told me about Mars being the god of war and _agriculture_ , I started laughing. There was no way I'd let him live that down! And as he taught me, I managed to combine that with what I'd learned from Annabeth, her mother, and Clarisse to create a completely _new_ style of fighting, one that was a combination of both Greek and Roman, something I was sure could defeat even Saturn or Mars in a duel. Even though Mars was the god of war, even _he_ couldn't counter something he'd never seen before. Jason also gave me an update on something a little personal to me. About six months before, the Greek's Camp Half-Blood had been attacked by the army of Saturn, and I had captured a few demigods, including a handful of Romans. I had delivered the Romans here so that Jason and his co-consul, Reyna, could take them in and hopefully manage to get them to switch sides. By November, all of the Roman demigods had switched from Saturn to Olympus and willingly joined Camp Jupiter. To make things even better, all of them had been claimed by their Olympian parents. Unfortunately, my training with Jason ended all too soon, and on our last day of training we agreed to pick it back up in January and continue until March before focusing on our parts in the war. As we said goodbye, he gave me one last present. "To make things easier when you come to join the Legion, you need a letter of recommendation. Octavian likes to brag about all his letters, so I thought I'd help you out by giving you one of your own." I barely managed to hold back my tears of joy at such a touching present.

However, something odd happened on my way back to Camp Half-Blood: my lightning travel was diverted to Carl Schurz Park in Manhattan. Boy, was I shocked when I saw Percy there with Mrs. O'Leary, his pet hellhound. "Alex! What are you doing here?" When I told him about the diversion, he immediately grew suspicious. "This can't be a coincidence, Alex. You and me ending up in the same place at the same time?" We agreed that a god had to be messing with us, then a shadow passed over the sun, and then Nico di Angelo, son of Pluto/Hades, (our _very_ handsome cousin that I had a _serious_ crush on) was tossed out of a shadow. That made us even more suspicious, but now we were wondering if it might be Saturn manipulating us in order to cause us to fulfill the prophecy to his satisfaction. Next thing we knew, we were falling through a shadow to gods only knew where.

* * *

When we landed, we were in Proserpina's garden, and not thirty seconds after, Proserpina/Persephone herself showed up. Nico didn't take her arrival well. Apparently they'd had a family spat that ended with her turning him into a dandelion the last time they met. Proserpina admitted to having sent the hellhound, the shadow and causing the diversion that brought the three of us here, and that she brought us here because she had a mission for us from Dis. "I need your help, and quickly. It concerns Lord Hades sword."

Nico was confused. "My father doesn't have a sword. He uses a pitchfork in battle and his Helm of Terror."

When Nico said that, I caught on to what Proserpina was saying. "Don't tell me he's forging a new symbol of power! Not without Zeus and Poseidon's permission! Not that they'd ever allow it, it would tip the balance of power in favor of Hades." Yeah, I preferred to use the Latin names, but with my Greek cousin(s) here, I used their Greek names.

"You mean make Hades their equal? Believe me, son of Jupiter, the Lord of the Dead has no designs against his brothers." Damn it, why did these gods _always_ have to call me a son of _Jupiter_? If they kept doing that, it could get me in a lot of trouble. Only Nico knew about my Roman heritage, and I was sure that if it became public knowledge, I'd be in big trouble, especially considering I went to a Greek camp, for now anyways. "He knew they would never understand, which is why he forged the blade in secret."

Then she created an image of the sword being forged. A Stygian iron blade with something set in the blade just above the hilt. "Is that a key?"

Nico froze in shock. "One of the keys of Hades?" The phrase 'keys of Hades' sounded familiar. Fortunately Percy asked what the keys of Hades were. "My father has a set of golden keys that can lock or unlock death. At least . . . that's the legend." Proserpina confirmed that the legend was true. "If one of those keys has been set in the sword-"

"The wielder can raise the dead, or slay any living thing and send it's soul to the Underworld with a mere touch of the blade," Proserpina finished.

"So what's the problem, sister? Why did you bring us here, and what does it have to do with Hades' sword?"

"I need you to get it back. The sword was stolen when it was nearly finished. I do not know how, but I suspect a demigod, some servant of Kronos. If the blade falls into the Titan lords' hands-"

Suddenly I remembered why the phrase sounded familiar, and I started laughing. Now that I knew what they were talking about, I knew that we had nothing to worry about. The sword might kill, but raise the dead? Not anymore they couldn't. Or at least, no more than Hades already could-meaning only zombies. "What's so funny, Alex?"

"I'll tell you later, Nico. So how are we supposed to find the thief and the sword?"

"The sword could not have left the Underworld yet. Hades has used his remaining keys to shut down the realm. Nothing gets in or out until he finds the sword, and he is using all his power to locate the thief." I chuckled at that, since _we_ got in while the Underworld was shut down, obviously people could still get in. It seems Proserpina has a tendency to overstate things. "The search for the blade cannot become common knowledge. We have locked the realm, but have not announced why, nor can Hades servants be used for the search. They cannot know the blade exists until it is finished. Certainly they can't know it's missing." Nico supposed it was because some of them would probably join Saturn if they found out the blade was missing. "The thief must be a demigod. No immortal can steal another immortal's weapon directly. Even Kronos must abide by that Ancient Law. He has a champion down here somewhere, and to catch a demigod, we shall use three."

When Percy asked why we were recruited, Proserpina said that it was because we were the three sons of the Big Three and none could stand against us. And if we returned the sword to Dis, then it would send a message to our fathers saying that we trusted Dis and they would not protest the sword's creation. "But I _don't_ trust him!" Percy declared, and then turned to us for support. Nico wasn't willing to support Percy because it was his dad we were talking about, while all I could think about was what Father had said about his brother. _I have often tried to convince my Greek half to let Pluto have equal representation on Olympus, but I've had no luck._ Maybe, just maybe, I could provide the push that gave Dis equal representation on Olympus, and with him, Vesta. "Well now Percy, I might not completely trust Hades, but Kronos I don't trust at all. Who would you rather have the sword?" Percy had to give me that, and yielded.

"Time is wasting. The thief may have accomplices in the Underworld and he will be looking for a way out. No prison is escape-proof, not even the Underworld. Souls are always finding new ways out faster than Hades can close them. You must retrieve the sword before it leaves the realm, or all is lost." When I asked how we were supposed to find the sword and it's thief, Proserpina created a dieing carnation that was leaning to the left, like it was trying to find the sun. "This flower will guide you. It always leans toward the thief, and as your quarry gets closer to escaping, the petals fall off." Right on cue, a petal fell off the flower. "When the last petal falls off, the thief has made it to an exit, and you have failed."

Before we left, Percy insisted that Dis swear on the Styx to never use the sword against his brothers. Proserpina shrugged and said that while she wasn't her husband, she was sure that he would agree.

* * *

As we walked by the Pit of Tartarus, I noticed the other pit that I'd noticed back on our first quest. Then it had been covered by a rock bound with seven seals, with one seal broken. Now, only one seal bound the rock over the pit, and whatever was in it was trying to get out. Great, doomsday was getting closer. "Hey, Alex, could you explain why you were laughing earlier?"

Boy was I glad that Nico had interrupted my thoughts. "Sure Nico. I was laughing because those keys that your dad has are _not_ the original keys. They're copies, probably with weaker powers like only raising zombies instead of true resurrection. The originals were taken from the Underworld about two thousand years ago."

"What? That's impossible!"

"Want to bet? Did you notice the crystal area that was completely empty? Did you ever wonder who was in there? Two thousand years ago, on April 5, 33 AD, Yeshua of Nazareth was raised from the dead, but before he left Hades, he took the keys with him, to keep for eternity, taking with him everyone who had been in the crystal cavern."

"How do you know about all this?"

"Nico, over two billion people believe the way I do. Admittedly, they don't believe that our parents are for real, but they all believe that Yeshua of Nazareth holds the Keys of Death and Hades and is waiting for a particular day to use them, so that all the souls that have ever lived or are living can be judged."

"Huh? What do you mean judged? And what do you mean, two billion people believe that?"

"Haven't you ever heard of Christianity? Yeshua of Nazareth is also known as Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus Christ. His story is without a doubt the most read story in history with more than six _billion_ copies published in it's history."

Before I could continue, we arrived at the hill of Sisyphus, fortunately just as he finished an attempt at completing his punishment. As we got closer, I heard him swearing in multiple languages I'd never heard such colorful language. At first, he believed us to be the Furies and wouldn't talk to us. He ran from us until I grabbed him by the hair and offered to move his rock if he'd talk to Percy and Nico. While I was moving it up the hill, I thought of a way to escape even this punishment. If Sisy had just flattened the top of the hill instead of leaving it rounded off, he could have escaped centuries ago. And the fool actually thought himself clever! Then, just as Sisy attempted to escape his punishment, again, I felt the rock pull back and I yelled out "INCOMING!" As I followed the stone, I heard Percy start swearing so much, he could have rivaled Sisy for a minute. Once everyone had calmed down, Sisy tried to get me to continue moving the stone. "Sorry, Sissy-may I call you Sissy? But this is your punishment, Sissy, not mine. Now go on and get back to work, you don't want the Furies to come after you, do you?" He started swearing again and still hadn't stopped by the time we got so far away that even my enhanced hearing couldn't hear anymore.

Percy asked Nico about someone called Melinoe, but Nico just said it was a long scary story. But before Percy or I could ask him any more questions, I heard bat wings coming towards us. I warned Nico and Percy by calling out "Weapons!" while pulling out Ventus (my celestial steel sword/bow combo, disguised as a pen,) and activated it's bow form. They pulled out their weapons, and went back-to-back, just before a dozen creatures appeared in front of us in a ring. They appeared to be women with bat wings that sprang from their backs, claws to replace their fingers, and teeth that would make a Great White Shark jealous. "Nico, what are they?"

"Keres. Battlefield spirits that feed on violent death." Oh, Tenebrae. Jason told me about them. Not only were they spirits that fed on violent death, they were disease carriers. A single scratch would bring a violent death to the victim, exactly what the Tenebrae wanted. "Get back! The son of Hades commands you!" But his command only pissed them off and claimed that their new master would give them free rein. I could sense that they weren't going to let us pass, so I loosed my first three arrows, each one taking down a Tenebrae, just as Percy took down one that was about to shred Nico. Inside of five minutes, all the Tenebrae had been killed, for now.

Unfortunately Percy got cut by one of the Tenebrae during the fight. We poured some nectar on the wound and fed him some ambrosia, but Nico and I both knew that it would do nothing more than buy Percy some time. I tried to get him to slow down, but he made a good argument against it. "There's no time. One of the _daimones_ mentioned Iapetus. Am I remembering right? That's a Titan?"

"Yeah, Saturn's brother and father of Atlas and Prometheus, the Titan of the West. His name means 'the Piercer' because that's what he liked to do to his enemies. Like most of the Titans, he was cast into Tartarus, he _should_ still be in there. But using that sword, it's wielder could probably summon the Titans out of Tartarus. But we still don't know who it is," I answered.

"Probably Ethan Nakamura. And he's starting to recruit some of Hades' minions to his side-like the Keres. The _daimons_ think that if Kronos wins the war they'll get more chaos and evil out of the deal," Percy suggested.

"They're probably right. My father tries to keep a balance by reigning in the more violent spirits. If Kronos appoints one of his brothers to be lord of the Underworld, then the Underworld would get a lot worse. The Keres would like that, and so would Melinoe," Nico commented.

"Who _is_ Melinoe?" I asked.

"She's the goddess of ghosts-one of my father's servants. She oversees the restless dead that walk the earth. Every night she rises from the Underworld to terrify mortals."

I'd never heard of her. Apparently when the Romans downsized Olympus to add in their own deities, they dropped her. "So she would have her own path to the surface?"

Nico nodded. "I doubt it would be blocked. Normally no one would even _think_ about trespassing in her cave. But if this demigod thief is brave enough to make a deal with her, he'd be able to take the sword back to Kronos in the surface world. And Kronos would then be able to use it to raise the rest of his brothers from Tartarus." Percy then struggled to his feet, insisting that we finish this together, and that he was strong enough to keep going. I doubted it, but we decided it would be better if we stuck together.

* * *

One petal later (we were now at three,) we hit a barrier, a river so black, it made obsidian look bright. Nico called it _"I Lithi tou potamou._ We'll never make it across." If I heard him right, he said something about the Lethe, a river in the Underworld. When Nico confirmed my suspicions, I could see why he was so pessimistic about crossing the river. The River Lethe was the River of Forgetfulness, a river here strictly for the handful of souls that made it to Elysium and wanted to try for the Isles of the Blest-an area of Elysium for those who'd achieved Elysium in three different lives. If you touched its waters, you started to lose your memories, stay in it too long, and you were washed completely clean of memories, a blank slate.

Percy suggested using my bow to get us across, or using the dead, but Nico shot both ideas down. Then Percy suggested that he use his hydrokinetic abilities to get us across. "No offense Percy, but I don't think that you're strong enough to do that _and_ be any help in a fight. Besides, I've got another idea. I can just flash us over to the other side. It'll be completely safe, and faster than anything else we could come up with." They reluctantly agreed, not that I was surprised. Our dads were major rivals in their Greek forms, and normally Zeus wouldn't hesitate to blast them out of the sky. (Or at least try to down here.)

By the time we'd crossed the Lethe, we were down to two petals, and we were now on the path to Melinoe's cave. We were halfway to the cave when I froze. For the briefest of seconds, I saw one of the ugliest people I'd ever seen, excluding Juno. Half of her face was as black as pitch, like it had been mummified, while the other half was as pale as bone. She wore a golden dress and golden shawl, and had empty pits where her eyes should have been. But after that short second, I saw my mother, Sarah Summers. She had the same dark brown hair, warm sapphire blue eyes that I knew and loved. To my surprise though, she turned to Nico first and started talking to him, and if that wasn't surprising enough, I couldn't hear what she was saying to him. "Mom?"

She faced me, and started yelling at me. "Alexander Julius Summers! You left me to die after all I'd done for you!" Hmm, sounded like her alright. And she was still yelling at me for something I'd had no control over. I pulled Ventus out of my pocket. "And you're still friends with these _others_ , demigods that could challenge your leadership over the camp. When will you ever listen to me? Zeus is your father, you should start acting like him."

Same old, same old. I activated the bow and pulled out two of my poison arrows, and shot her. "Mother, _shut up!_ I am _sick and tired_ of all your whining, complaining, and demands to distance myself from my friends. You are dead, and you are going to stay that way, forever." To my surprise, when the arrows hit, she burst into green flames and disappeared.

Percy and Nico stared at me in shock. Nico was the first to regain his voice. "Damn, I know you said that you were on bad terms with your mom, but I didn't realize it was _that_ bad. Would you have done it if that really were your mom?"

"To shut her up for good? I'd _pay_ for the privilege. Now, are we going to go after the sword or what, we _are_ down to one petal." Just then, the last petal fell off the carnation, and it turned black and wilted. "Never mind, we're too late."

"You're right about that!" a voice boomed. We turned to face the cave, and saw Ethan Nakamura, son of Invidia/Nemesis standing next to a thin man with a scraggly beard, wearing a ripped prison jumpsuit. That had to be Polus/Iapetus. And in Ethan's hands was a steel blade with skeletal designs in it, and a golden key set at it's base. The Sword of Hades. They had made it to an escape point, and they were wasting time talking to us?

Apparently Ethan agreed with me, as he told Polus that they should flee, considering they had the sword. "FLEE? Did you say FLEE? IAPETUS DOES NOT FLEE! I have waited three eons to be summoned from the pit. I want revenge, and I will start by killing these weaklings!" Then he charged at Percy. Nico summoned three skeletons to deal with Nakamura, while I changed Ventus to it's sword form so I could duel Polus. I tried to disarm him by cutting off the head of his spear, but the spear was incredibly tough and I was only able to cut about ¼ of the way through. Then Percy cut Iapetus' calf. "AHH! YOU DIE FIRST! I will kill you all! Then I will cast your souls into the eternal darkness of Tartarus!" Percy landed just a foot from the Lethe. That's when I got a _brilliant_ idea. As Iapetus went after Percy, I pulled out the birthday present my would-be step-dad had given me two years ago. Apparently Percy had the same idea, because he started insulting Iapetus. Just as Iapetus lunged at Percy, I yelled for him to get out of the way, and two seconds later, I shot Polus with the famous Epirus Bow, or more commonly, the Bow of Hercules. Our plan worked perfectly, as he landed in the middle of the Lethe. Nico and I just barely avoided getting hit by the water, but we did avoid it, while Percy got completely doused, and as usual came out completely dry.

When the Titan rose from the river, his eyes were wide open, as if he were seeing everything for the first time. He asked who he was, and Percy told him that he was Percy's friend Bob. The newly renamed Titan was very pleased by that, and I knew that Ethan was probably going to turn tail, so I tuned back towards him. Sure enough he was looking at Hades' sword, so I sent another arrow towards him, blasting the ground in between Ethan and the sword. "Don't even think about it, Ethan. You take one more step towards that sword, and we'll see how powerful this thing really is." Naturally he ran.

* * *

The Furies gave the others an express ride back to the palace, although they didn't look pleased about carrying Bob the Titan. But there was no way we were going to leave him behind, especially after he healed Percy's wound from the Tenebrae. While Nico told his father about our adventure, I studied the rulers of the Underworld. Proserpina seemed quite pleased by how it turned out, but my uncle seemed quite upset, although not at us. He seemed proud of how Nico handled his first quest, but he seemed upset about the sword. Was it possible that he had _not_ ordered the quest, or did he not know about the sword until now? My suspicions were confirmed when he spoke to Proserpina. "You defied my direct orders." Then he turned to Nico. "You will speak of this to no one. And if your friends do not hold their tongues, I will cut them out." He then took the blade and handed it to Alecto, ordering that the sword be finished, and to stay there until it was finished. He then left in a burst of blue flames. _Hmm, so that's where Disney got the idea_.

Proserpina then created three pearls like the ones we had collected on our first quest. That's when Percy and Nico realized that it had been Proserpina who ordered the sword created and then gave us the quest. Uncle Pluto had never known about the sword, let alone known it was missing, until now. Naturally Proserpina denied it, and even tried to reward us, but she stopped when Percy threatened to toss her into the Lethe. Percy and Nico left right after that, while I stuck around, I had some business to talk to Dis about.

 _I hope you're about done down there, because Dr. Kane is boarding the plane now!_ Another thing I hate. For the past two and a half years, the Egyptian god Ra has been talking in my head, warning me of some great threat that was coming. Recently, he'd been insisting that I get to the British Museum in London to meet with a Dr. Julius Kane because he was going to release 'the five gods of the Demon Days,' whatever that meant. I'd been learning Greco-Roman mythology, not Egyptian. Ra also said that if the gods _were_ released, then Set could destroy the gods, releasing Apophis from his imprisonment. Now Apophis I had done some research on. Apparently he was an enormous snake that threatened to eat Ra's sun boat each day, bringing about an apocalypse. In other words, Apophis was Egypt's version of Satan.

Well, at least I had plenty of time to get to merry old London. I hunted down my uncle, finding him right where I expected him, in his throne room. "What do you want, nephew?"

"I have a question for you, uncle. I assume you have seen the Disney version of the tale of Hercules?" He scowled, mumbling something about it being a travesty. "I'll take that as a yes. Then you know about the potion that turned Hercules mortal in it?" He nodded. "Good. I need to know, do you actually have something like that? I know someone that could use it."

"Like who?" I whispered my target to him, not even allowing the Furies to hear me. "Ha ha! I love it! I knew there was a reason that you were my favorite nephew! A chance to get rid of my least favorite sister, while also giving Hestia or myself a throne on Olympus. I'll gladly do it, on one condition. You must do it after the war is over."

"I wouldn't have it any other way, uncle. As much as we hate her, she does have her uses. You can deliver them to my cabin just as soon as the war is over." I then crushed the pearl and as soon as I'd returned to my cabin, I prepared for my flight to England.


	2. An Exploding Stone and Talks at Home

I spent Christmas morning using my saved up money to do a little shopping for myself, Percy and Nico. I got Nico a pair of celestial steel knives, while buying Percy a new fountain for Iris messages in his cabin, as well as an IPod and a real pen for him to use. (The pen was for him to use after we discovered that Riptide, his lethal ballpoint pen, could _not_ be used to write with.) Then I noticed the time, and realized that I needed to get to London _now!_ So I grabbed my bag (which held a dozen gold denarii, five hundred dollars, my IPod and violin, Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ , and all of my arrows, as well as a few changes of clothes,) and Lightning Traveled to London.

I arrived in front of an obelisk, one that I immediately recognized from my first dream about Egypt, back during the quest for the Golden Fleece before I even knew about my connection to Egypt. It was here that Dr. Julius Kane and his wife, the late Ruby Faust, started their mission to bring back the gods from something Ra called "the Duat," whatever that was. Unfortunately, that mission is what cost Ruby her life, and no one knew what they gained, except for Dr. Kane himself. Anyway, I got there at night, which meant that very few people were out and about. Unfortunately, there were five people in two groups gathered around Cleopatra's Needle. The first group was made up of a couple, a tall pale man with a forked beard wearing cream robes, and a copper-skinned girl in indigo robes and a headscarf. _They are Desjardins and Zia Rashid of the House of Life, the main group of Egyptian magicians. Be careful of them; if they sense that you are a demigod, they will try to exorcise all traces of a god from you with the Ribbons of Hathor. It will not be a pleasant process._

The other three were a group that I could believe were a father and his two children. The father and his son both had dark skin and wore button down shirts and slacks. The father was bald, with a goatee, while the son had black hair in an afro style. The girl obviously took after her mother, with light, though tanned skin, straight, caramel hair with red streaks, and wearing _fairly_ normal clothes, except for the combat boots. _They are the Kanes. Julius, Carter and Sadie. Stick with them until Set has been stopped._ Then Dr. Kane must have noticed that he had visitors and got his kids into a cab. I immediately took off after them, eventually catching them exactly where Ra said to meet them, at the British Museum. I was afraid that if he got in there, I might lose him, so I called out "Dr. Kane! Wait up, I need to talk to you."

He turned to face me and froze. "Who are you? Did Iskander send you?"

"Never heard of him. My name is Alexander Julius, and I was sent by someone a bit more powerful than either of us." I pulled out my Eye of Ra pendant and showed it to him, hoping he would get the connection.

"Um, Dad, why does he have a pendant like mine?" I turned and saw that Carter also had an Eye pendant. Okay, that was an interesting coincidence.

"Alright, now that I know you're not from the House, could you tell me why you are here? And please hurry, I've got a very important appointment inside with the curator." I looked to see how the other Kanes felt about being dragged around by Dad for work. Carter looked like it was just another day in his life, while Sadie looked like she was bored and upset that her dad had dragged her to a museum.

"Well, let's just say that my friend is concerned about what you're doing. But he doesn't want me to stop you. On the contrary, he wants me to take care of your kids, just in case you succeed. Now, how about we get to that meeting of yours, Doc."

The curator was quite pleased to meet Dr. Kane, and mentioned a paper he had done on Imhotep. At least that was a name I recognized, the guy who designed the first pyramid, and according to Ra, a founding member of the House of Life. When he was introduced to us, there was a moment of confusion when he heard that Sadie was Carter's brother. I don't know why, there was enough of a family resemblance to mark them as related, it's just that she obviously took after her mother.

To my surprise, the curator didn't demand either of our bags, not after Dr. Kane said that we'd keep them. Then I saw what Kane was here to see, _the_ most important artifact in the history of Egyptian archaeology, the Rosetta Stone. Unimportant on it's own, but priceless for what it represented: the key to translating hieroglyphs. Naturally, having an archaeologist as an almost step-father, I had known about the Stone since before I knew I was a demigod. But while he was explaining it's history, Kane said something confusing. "When it was first carved, the Stone was no big deal. But over the centuries . . . over the centuries it has become a powerful symbol. Perhaps the most important connection between Ancient Egypt and the modern world. I was a fool not to realize its potential sooner." And before that, he had said something about "regular mortals" not being able to read hieroglyphics before the Stone, as if he weren't a regular mortal. He couldn't be a demigod . . . could he? Or did he simply mean that the House of Life didn't consider themselves mortals? The latter explanation seemed far more likely.

Things got even more confusing after Kane sent the curator after some papers. As soon as the curator was out of the room, he sent us after the curator to lock him in his office and not come back in the room, while I was to make sure that they listened to him and stayed out. After we locked the curator in, we turned back to face the room the Doc was in, and saw a strange bluish light coming from the gallery. Sadie asked if Carter knew what he was up to, and Carter said that he had no idea. I didn't know about them, but I was curious, so I went back to take a look and the Kanes followed after me.

When I got there, I found Kane in the middle of a glowing blue circle, pulling out a boomerang-like white stick ( _A magicians wand_ according to Ra) and he was beginning to _write on the Rosetta Stone!_ To make things even weirder, he was writing hieroglyphics. And if things weren't weird enough, Sadie started translating it. "Open" was the first set of symbols she translated. Kane then chanted a phrase, and as he spoke, the words appeared on the stone. _"Wo-seer, i-ei."_ "Osiris, come. NO! Dad, no!" That's when Kane realized that we had disobeyed him, and he turned to face us just as the Rosetta Stone exploded.

* * *

When I woke up, I felt _something_ try to enter me, and fail, probably some Egyptian god, if what Ra had told me was true. As I looked around, I saw that the Stone was completely destroyed, and the explosion had come from _inside_ the Stone, causing it's pieces to shoot away from the pedestal so forcefully that the pieces had imbedded themselves inside columns, the walls, and other exhibits. But when I looked at the space between us and Kane, I saw the ghostly figure of a man shrouded in fire that was talking to Kane. "Well done. Very well done, Julius." Kane objected, claiming that the fire guy hadn't been summoned. "I am never summoned, Julius. But when you open a door, you must be prepared for guests to walk through."

"Back to the Duat! I have the power of the Great King!" The power of the great king? Based on what little research I'd done on Egypt's mythology, I'm guessing that meant that Kane was playing host to Osiris, especially as Ra had told me he was stuck in the Underworld.

The knowledge of who Kane was hosting did not impress Mr. Fire (Set, possibly?) "Oh, scary" he said with sarcasm. "And even if you knew how to use that power, which you do not, he was never my match. I am the strongest. Now you will share his fate." Kane then pulled out a ruler-sized stick, that changed into a staff as he spoke to it, and it changed again when he threw it down at Fiery's feet, turning into an enormous Egyptian cobra. Again, he was not impressed. Old Flame-boy picked up the snake by it's neck and incinerated it, saying "An old trick, Julius."

"How many? How many did I release?" Kane asked.

"Why, all five. You should know we're a package deal, Julius. Soon I'll release even more, and they'll be very grateful. I shall be king again."

"The Demon Days. They'll stop you before it's too late."

Fire laughed at Kane. "You think the House can stop me? Those old fools can't even stop arguing among themselves. Now let the story be told anew. And this time you shall _never_ rise!" Fiery waved his hand, making the blue circle around Kane go dark, and then he conjured up a see-through sarcophagus. As Kane struggled against his imprisonment, it became more solid, and as soon as it was 100% solid, it sunk into the ground. "Goodbye, Osiris."

 _Now, attack him! Attack Set before he can grow too powerful!_ Sure, Ra, _now_ you tell me to attack him, after Kane is gone! But who was I to argue? I pulled out Ventus in sword form, and charged him, calling out "Well then, since you weren't impressed by Kane, why don't you face me?"

Set turned to face me, and he actually looked shocked. "And who do you think you are?"

"I am the son of Jupiter!" He froze at that (if fire _can_ freeze.) "I battled Perfidia and survived being eaten by Charybdis herself. I have challenged the war god Mars and the goddesses Invidia and Juno. I killed the Titan Atlas and the ghost of Minos. You would be just another notch on the stick for me."

Oddly enough, that actually scared him enough for him to run away, but not before spotting Carter and telling him that they'd meet soon. That's when I noticed that the security guards were coming into the gallery, so I pulled on my invisibility helmet and walked out the front door.

* * *

I was planning on following the Kanes back to their home, but before I could, an enormous wolf came at me. "Okay, this is strange. What in Hades' are you?" Then I noticed it. Instead of seeing the normal, golden eyes of a wolf, I saw a ghostly image of a peacock feather in each eye. " _Juno_. Why am I not surprised?" My _beloved_ step-mother had had it in for me for years, and just a few months before, I had declared war on her. I guess sending monsters after me was her way of fighting back. The wolf then charged me and I flew up to avoid it. When the wolf jumped at me, I went a few feet higher, high enough that I was sure that not even that wolf would be able to touch me. But wouldn't you know it, not only was this a giant wolf, it was also a major jumper, I had to slice it before it killed me. But to my surprise, instead of falling to the ground, it burst into _snow_. What kind of monster turns into snow?

As if my luck weren't already bad enough, the cops had already taken the Kanes and now I had no idea where they were. _Don't worry about that, my son. They now host Horus and Isis, I'll be able to find them easily enough._ Huh, so there were advantages to being able to talk to a god in your head. Ra lead me to an area on the banks of the Thames, where I saw the Kane kids and a pudgy dark-skinned man dressed like Zeus, with a fedora and black, braided hair with gold beads in it. He wrote something on a pane of glass, and an old Egyptian-style boat appeared. (Hey, I know . . . a little about Egypt. Just because I'm Roman by heritage doesn't make me ignorant about other cultures. Besides, I was also Jewish and I loved the DreamWorks movies about Yoseph and Moshe.) I figured that right now wasn't the best time to reveal myself again, (I was pretty sure I'd get yelled at by Sadie if I did,) and got on in the back, still wearing the helmet. When the boat started moving, fog appeared around us and weird sounds started around us, it kind of reminded me of Shadow Travel, a form of travel usually reserved for beings connected to the Underworld, such as my boyfriend. Any way, within 15 minutes we had exited the fog bank and I was looking up at . . . the Williamsburg Bridge on the East River? That shouldn't have been possible, and yet I clearly saw the Empire State Building to the northwest. To the left I could easily see Brooklyn Naval Yards, which we pull into, right in front of an old warehouse . . . with a mansion on top? The mansion was easily five stories tall, and shrouded in _yellow_ Mist? I'd seen Mist before (it's what keeps the mythological hidden from the mortals,) and it had always been green before, so why was the Mist _yellow_ here?

"And is this the east shore?" I heard Sadie ask the man. "You said something about that in London-my grandparents living on the east shore."

"Yes, very good Sadie. In ancient times, the east bank of the Nile was always the side of the living, the side where the sun rises. The dead were buried west of the river. It was considered bad luck, even dangerous, to live there. The tradition is still strong among . . . our people." When Sadie asked about Manhattan, I perked up. I was really curious to see what this guy had to say about my family. "Manhattan has other problems. Other gods. It's best we stay separate." Okay, I guess that works. "All ashore, and welcome to the Twenty-first Nome."

While they talked, I flew up to the top of the stairs and waited for them to come up. I was sure that one of them would have to be the ones to open the door, that is, until Ra told me how. The room directly inside the door was _huge_ , I wouldn't have been surprised if I found out that the Big House could've fit in there, with room to spare! It was four stories tall with hieroglyph-covered pillars, three levels of balconies, a large number of Egyptian weapons, a fireplace that could fit a car inside, and a large black marble statue of an Egyptian god, Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom. I decided to climbed up onto his lap, and rest there.

Once Amos and the others were inside, Amos mentioned that Thoth was the only god usually allowed in the House of Life. Then Sadie asked a question that I'd been _dying_ to know the Egyptian answer to, why did nearly all of the Egyptian gods have animal heads. According to Colleen McCullough's _Masters of Rome_ series, Julius Caesar believed it was because the animals were perfectly fused into human lives. "They don't look like that normally. Not in real life. The gods could appear in many forms, usually fully human or fully animal, but occasionally as a hybrid form like this. They are primal forces, you understand, a sort of bridge between humanity and nature. They are depicted with animal heads to show that they exist in two different worlds at once. Do you understand?" Huh, similar, yet also different. The kids tried to ask questions, but Amos insisted that answers wait until tomorrow. He did introduce Khufu, a baboon that happened to be a big basketball fan. Weird, a baboon named for one of my supposed ancestors. Hearing that, I decided to follow his advice and laid down on the statue's lap and went straight to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up after I heard Amos tell Sadie "We seem to have a visitor."

"How the bloody hell did he get up there?"

"Sadie, I'm not even sure how he got _inside_ the mansion, let alone how he got up there."

"I came in through the door, naturally. As for how I got up here, I climbed. How else would I be here?" I looked down on them and saw they were getting ready to eat breakfast. "Now, do you mind if I join you? I haven't eaten in . . ." I looked down at my watch. "More than twenty hours, assuming I didn't forget any time missed because of traveling." I floated down to the floor, but I fell the last three feet after I spotted something . . . odd. Khufu the baboon was eating something . . . something with pink feathers. "Umm, Amos? What is Khufu eating?"

"A flamingo."

"WHAT?" He'd said it like it was something Khufu did all the time.

"Khufu has odd eating habits. He only eats things that end in _o_. Cheetos, Fritos, burritos, flamingos, so on. It's best not to ask questions about his diet." I decided to do the wise thing, and follow his advice. Fortunately his back was facing us, so the worst thing we saw was his multi-colored rear, and not something that might make us lose our appetite. "Now, I'd like some answers from you."

"Just as soon as Carter joins us, and you answer their questions, alright. Until then, I'll just introduce myself. My name is Alexander Julius, and I already know who you are, Mr. Kane." Amos agreed, then introduced us to the albino crocodile Phillip of Macedonia. When I followed my usual tradition of sacrificing some of my breakfast, both Sadie and Amos looked at me weird. I ignored them, they had their odd customs and I had mine. (Besides, when you do something like that at every meal for three years, it's pretty ingrained.) A few minutes later Carter joined us. He also asked about the meat, but we told him the same thing Amos had told us.

Once Carter started eating, he asked for explanations, and Sadie suggested starting with their dad. "Julius was attempting to summon a god. Unfortunately, it worked." It was obvious that Carter was having trouble believing as he asked if his dad was going for a particular god, or just a generic god. "There are many Egyptian gods, Carter. But your dad was after one in particular." That's when Carter remembered one of Sadie's translations, _Osiris, come._ And as was usual with someone finding out about the mythological world, he didn't believe that the gods existed, that they were merely legends. (Only Nico and I had believed quickly, at least in recent memory.) "I wish that were true, Carter. The ancient Egyptians were not fools. They built the pyramids, they created the first great nation-state. Their civilization lasted thousands of years. A legacy that powerful does not disappear. Next to the Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans were babies."

"Hey! I resent that. Just because the Greeks and Romans started after the Egyptians does _not_ make them babies. Besides, those _babies_ conquered Egypt quite easily!" I argued. When Amos glared at me, I started to wish I hadn't spoken up. But I was not going to let these insults go.

"And why are you so supportive of them?"

"Just defending my family, Amos. Besides, the Greco-Roman civilizations are the foundation of Western Civilization. They created our form of government, philosophy, the basis of the modern army, and without them, Christianity might have died in the cradle."

"Yes, well, that may be, but the very oldest root of Western Civilization is Egypt. Look at the pyramid on the dollar bill. Look at the Washington Monument, the world's largest Egyptian obelisk. Egypt is still very much alive, and so, unfortunately, are her gods." Unfortunately? What was up with this guy? Sure, some of us demigods didn't like our parents, one just had to look at Luke and his growing army for proof, but we were still glad they were around, so why not these Egyptians? Anyway, Carter still didn't believe that the Egyptian gods existed, so Amos went on. "Carter, the Egyptians would not have been stupid enough to worship imaginary gods. The beings they described in their myths are very, very real. In the old days, the priests of Egypt would call on these gods to channel their power and perform great feats. That is the origin of what we now call magic. Like many things, magic was first invented by the Egyptians. Each temple had a branch of magicians called the House of Life. Their magicians were famed throughout the ancient world." While Carter still had trouble believing, Amos put up a logical argument, and according to him, they had magical abilities from both of their parents. "The two of you, you combine the blood of two ancient families, both of which have long, complicated histories with the gods. You are the most powerful Kane children to be born in many centuries."

 _Even with their impressive bloodline, they can never be as powerful as you, my son. You have my blood running through your veins, as well as the blood of Jupiter and, of course, your Julian ancestry. Even with the Kanes hosting Horus and Isis, you are still more powerful now than them._ I ignored Ra, he was always trying to get me by offering power. Fortunately I was the wrong child of the sky to try that on. "You're telling me our parents secretly worshiped animal headed gods?" I turned back to the mortal conversation at that.

"Not worshiped. By the end of the ancient times, Egyptians had learned that their gods were not to be worshiped. They are powerful beings, primeval forces, but they are not divine in the sense one might think of God. They are created entities, like mortals, only much more powerful. We can respect them, fear them, use their power, or even fight them to keep them under control-"

" _Fight_ them?" I asked. Why would you want to fight gods? The Titans, the giants, and in Egypt, Apophis, _those_ I could understand fighting, but _gods?_

"Constantly. But we do not worship them. Thoth taught us that." Carter then asked why their dad had broken the Rosetta stone. "Oh, I'm sure he didn't mean to break it. That would've horrified him. In fact, I imagine my brethren in London have repaired the damage by now. The curators will soon check their vaults and discover the Rosetta Stone miraculously survived the explosion." Carter immediately asked how that was possible, considering it had been blown into a million pieces. Amos picked up a plate and smashed it on the ground. "That was _to destroy_. I could've done it by magic, _ha-di_ , but it's simpler to just smash it. And now, join, _hi-nehm._ " A line of fiery red hieroglyphs appeared, and the plate was repaired. "At any rate, your father would never have intentionally damaged a relic. He simply didn't realize how much power resided in the Rosetta Stone. You see, as Egypt faded, it's magic collected and concentrated into it's remaining relics, most of which are still in Egypt. But you can find some in almost every major museum. A magician can use these artefacts as focal points to work more powerful spells. For the past six years, your father has been looking for a way to summon Osiris, and last night he thought he found the right artifact to do it."

"And he succeeded. Julius said that he had the power of the 'Great King.' That's got to be Osiris. But why would he want Osiris? It couldn't be to resurrect his wife could it?"

"And why not?" Amos asked.

"Because to bring someone back from the dead, you need to trade a soul for a soul, a life for a life, preferably one who has lived longer than the Fates decreed they should have." I knew about that particular requirement because Nico had tried that just a few months ago with Bianca and Daedalus. How could I possibly forget something so important to my beloved cousin?

"And how would you know that?"

"I know someone who was going to try that."

"Really? Why was he going to try it?"

"Because he someone he loved, why else? Now please, keep going and stop asking me questions."

For a second, I thought Amos was going to, but then he asked "How was he going to try it?"

"He has connections to the Lord of the Dead, now shush and continue the story."

Again I thought I'd shut him up, but he asked another question. "How does he have a connection to Osiris?"

I turned to the kids and said, "He really can't shut up, can he?" They chuckled as I turned back to Amos and said "Besides, who said I was talking about Osiris?" I'd actually been hinting at the fact that Nico is the demigod son of Hades/Pluto/Dis Pater, the Greco-Roman Lord of the Dead. "But what about the other four? The fiery guy said that Julius had released 'all five.' Assuming that Osiris is one of them, who are the other four?"

"The gods of Egypt are very dangerous. For the last two thousand years or so, we magicians have spent much of our time binding and banishing them whenever they appear. In fact, our most important law, issued by Chief Lector Iskander in Roman times, forbids unleashing the gods or using their powers. Your father broke that law once already," Amos stated, seemingly ignoring my question.

"At Cleopatra's Needle when their mother died. But what's that got to do with the other four gods?"

"How did you know about that?!" Sadie demanded.

"I dreamed about it two summers ago. So, Amos, how does it fit in?"

"It's a long story, Mr Julius, and this is background information that is important to understanding the full story. My brother and his wife took a terrible risk to do something they thought would do some good, and it cost Ruby her life. Julius took the blame and was banished. He was forced to move around constantly because the House monitored his activities. They feared that he would continue his research, as indeed he did. The House forbade me from seeing Julius and you two. It hurt me to do it, but I couldn't see you, until last night when I simply had no choice but to help. Julius has been obsessed with finding Osiris for years. He was consumed with grief because of what happened to Ruby. When I learned that Julius was about to break the law again to set things right, I had to stop him. A second offence would have meant death. Unfortunately, I failed. I should've known he was too stubborn."

Carter interrupted. "Last night at the museum, the girl with the knife and the man with the forked beard, they were magicians too? From the House of Life?"

"Yeah, they were. Their names are Desjardins and Zia Rashid. Now, I believe you had some questions for me?" I asked.

"Yeah we've got some bloody questions for you. Who are you and how did you find us?"

I expected those questions, so I was prepared. "Like I told you this morning and last night, my name is Alexander Julius and I was sent to find you. I knew exactly where to find you because of my benefactor and a dream. I am here because I was on your boat last night, and I have to say, it was a very intriguing method of travel, but I prefer Lightning Travelling."

"Who is this benefactor of yours, and why weren't you surprised about the fact that the gods of Egypt still live among us?" Amos asked.

"My benefactor is he who uses this mark," I said, pulling my Eye out again. "As for why I'm not surprised, well let's just say that Osiris and his bunch are not the first I've heard of."

"You bear the Eye of Horus?"

"Horus? This is the Eye of Ra." Amos froze in shock at that statement.

"But . . . but Ra hasn't reigned in Egypt in millennia! How could he have contacted you?" Amos probably would have gone on demanding questions of me for another hour or so (he _really_ doesn't know how to shut up) but he was interrupted by the appearance of a long package. He picked it up and asked "What the hell is this and how did it get inside the mansion? Nothing can get in here without a hard fight, yet the defences haven't been touched!"

"Depends on how they got in. Now, hand me that letter, Amos." Once he handed it to me, I discovered that it was from my good friend Silena Beauregard. She told me that her mother, Aprodite/Venus had warned her that I would be in grave danger and that I would need every weapon at my disposal to win. So, following her mother's warning, she entered my cabin, found the Epirus Bow (which I had left behind,) and sent it off to me via H-mail, (that is, Hermes/Mercury mail.) I smiled at the kind gesture of the goddess of love and unwrapped my beloved bow.

Amos was so shocked that he forgot to interrogate me, leaving the Kane's to ask him what was going to happen to them. Amos, quickly regaining his senses told them that he would be training them so they could fight 'the Red Lord,' a guy that Carter claimed was in Phoenix and was planning to unleash 'the greatest storm ever known.' According to Amos, the last time he said that, he created the Sahara. That confused me because I was sure that the Sahara was created because a son of Sol Invictus let the sun chariot fly too close to the Earth. Eh, different mythologies, different origins. Who knew which was the real story, or maybe they both were? Anyway, once Carter told Amos that, Amos decided to go on a scouting trip and left us to our own devices. Amos did leave one rule: that none of us enter the library, so of course the first thing me and Sadie did was go to the library.


	3. The Library and an Attack

I have to agree with Sadie sometimes, Carter is crazy! He actually seemed to think that going to the library might be dangerous. Come on, what could be so dangerous in a library? Khufu the baboon briefly tried to stop us, but Sadie bribed him to ignore us. Oddly though, the library was protected by thick oak doors covered by steel chains and padlocked. Sadie was about to _ha-di_ the doors open, when I stopped her. "Why waste the energy when I have a weapon that would work?" I grabbed the Epirus Bow and shot an arrow. The arrow got us in, as I knew it would, but it did more than destroy the padlock, it OBLITERATED the door, leaving only splinters behind.

Inside, the library was purely amazing, done like the inside of an Egyptian tomb, with images of their god of the earth and goddess of the sky on the floor and roof respectively. (Speaking of them, I don't understand Sadie's jokes about Nut, I always heard her name pronounced like the newt lizard.) The walls were all honeycombed, with papyrus scrolls on the inside, no modern books at all, and probably none that I could read. Luckily Carter mentioned that none of the cubbies would be booby-trapped since this was a library not a tomb. I started looking around while Carter and Sadie investigated their dad's workbag. As I suspected, there was nothing in the library I could read, although Ra did provide translations for the titles, like _The Book of the Heavenly Cow_ (supposedly a book about Hathor,) _The Book of Slaying Apophis,_ and, of course, the famous _Book of the Dead._ Then I found a book that Ra insisted I read: _The Blood of the Pharaohs_ , a book that listed every single family with royal Egyptian blood. At the top of the scroll, it would have a large cartouche with a name inside, and Ra explained that that name was the name of the original host, or their family name if they were young enough, and each name under it belonged to the descendants, until one got to the next host name. There were few that Ra would translate, but among them were Khufu-one of his hosts, his son and grandson Khafre and Menakaure, and beneath them was my mother's name: Summers, confirming his story. Later in the scroll, we discovered a family name I did not expect to see: Ptolemy. Under that name was "the goddess Cleopatra who is beloved of her father," clearly a reference to that most famous seductress, Cleopatra VII. Under her name was that of her son, Caesarion, and startling enough were _other_ names, suggesting that just maybe, Caesarion really _had_ survived the assassination attempt by Octavian Caesar as Venus had claimed. Just then, Ra insisted I look down at the names again, and boy was I in for a shock. Under the Ptolemy heading, I saw many names that were instantly recognizable: Castellan, di Angelo, Chase, Grace, Jackson, _Summers_. Was it really possible?

I sat down in shock, until Carter and Sadie started talking about the Demon Days. According to Carter, Geb and Nut had conceived five children, but because of a prophecy, Ra tried to prevent them from being born. In response, Nut gambled with Khons (the Egyptian moon god, their version of Selene) and created five more days in the year. She had one of her children on each of the days, Osiris, Isis, Horus, Set, then Nephthys on the final day. The Demon Days were the last five days of the year, meaning we had to stop Set by December 30. Carter only made one mistake in his telling. "The thing is, one of these guys, Set, was a really bad dude. Like, the villain of Egyptian mythology. The god of evil and chaos and desert storms."

"Not quite, Carter. Set was no more the god of evil than Pluto was. He was a villain, sure, but not _that_ evil. The closest thing to that is the enormous snake Apophis who tried to eat Ra's sun boat each day. Even Set was preferred to that snake." Yeah, I know, surprising amount of knowledge for someone who hardly knows any Egyptian myths, but hey, it is possible to learn things from TV, in this case, _Stargate SG:1_. Carter seemed ready to argue with me, until we heard an explosion out in the Great Room.

We ran from the library, only to find Khufu the baboon going nuts and Phillip the crocodile was battling two creatures that Carter quickly identified as longnecks or serpopards, until the terrace collapsed, taking both the crocodile and monsters down into the East River. We thought we were safe, until a cloud of dust appeared and hit the walls, which were all covered with hieroglyphs. We all stared in confusion, especially when a feminine voice incanted a spell, until the images of the Egyptians came to life-sort of. As it turns out, the images were hiding _mummies_ , and all of them turned to attack us.

Or at least, so it seemed. I yelled at the Kanes to separate, and the mummies all turned to go after _me!_ I quickly activated Ventus and started shooting them, but the arrows did no good! Damn, these were the kind of incidents that really made me wish Nico was here, at least he could get rid of them easily! I really didn't want to risk close combat with them, even with my Greco-Roman combat style, so I pulled out the Epirus bow and decided to try it. Fortunately, there were no more explosions when it hit the mummies, it just killed them. (If you _can_ kill a mummy. How can you kill something that is technically a reanimated corpse?) Carter managed to grab a _khopesh_ blade off one of the wall displays that _hadn't_ been destroyed and quickly decapitated a mummy when it got too close. Before he did though, I noticed the mark of Juno in its' eyes: the peacock feather. Sons of Dis, can't she leave me alone for just two days? Then we got even more trouble as the serpopards returned and broke the magical barriers around the house.

Sadie had become so desperate that she tried something so crazy that I shouldn't be surprised that it worked. She ordered her cat to protect her, and to our surprise, the cat turned into a human who then destroyed the serpopards by getting their necks tied into knots and then slicing their heads off. The woman (who eventually introduced herself as the cat goddess Bast) told us that we needed to get to Manhattan in order to use a portal and summon more deities. She led us through the industrial yard (destroying a wrecking ball in the process) and stole a car (though she claimed that, as a cat, it was hers because she saw it.)

It was a good thing that she did steal the car, because copper men that Bast called _carriers_ started chasing us, and they were followed by weird, animalistic mummies who looked far fiercer than their predecessors, and if it were possible, even fiercer than some of the monsters I've seen. (Among them Cerberus, he's nothing more than an overgrown puppy and _loves_ playtime with me or Nico. Makes it hard to believe that we were ever scared of him!) I quickly unbuckled and pulled out the Epirus Bow. "Alex, what the bloody hell do you think you're doing? Sit down or you could die!"

"If someone doesn't take out those mummies and carriers, we _will_ die, Sadie! So unless you're willing to risk mortal lives and try to _ha-di_ them, my bow is the only way to kill them!" I yelled back. Ignoring any more protests, I took careful aim and shot the nearest carriers. Unfortunately, shooting them allowed the mummies to get closer, and again I spotted the peacock feather in their eyes. For the first time, I was wondering about the wisdom of declaring war on Juno as I had four months ago. While I was pondering that, Carter asked why the mortals didn't react to the carriers and mummies. "It's because the Mist hides them from their view. Anything the mortals don't understand, the Mist changes to something that they _can_ understand. For example, three years ago my cousin dueled a god with a sword, and the mist changed the swords to guns and attributed explosions caused by the god to a gas explosion caused by a recent earthquake. Mist is a very useful tool and very mysterious," I answered between shots. Bast continued the explanation by mentioning that even those of us born to the world of immortals could be fooled by the Mist, and that her plan included releasing more gods.

Then Carter asked another good question. "Bast, if you're a goddess, can't you just snap your fingers and disintegrate those guys? Or wave your hand and teleport us away?"

"He has a point. I know another god who drove a dozen people completely and totally insane from across the country just because my cousin asked him too. Why _can't_ you do something like that to the carriers?" I asked.

"That would be nice, wouldn't it? But my power in this host is limited." Sadie asked if she meant Muffin the cat. "She's still my host, Sadie, my anchor on this side of the Duat-and a very imperfect one at that. Your call for help allowed me to assume human shape, but that alone takes a great deal of my power. Besides, even when I'm in a _powerful_ host, Set's magic is stronger than mine."

"And why do you need a host? Those other gods that I know don't need hosts! They can change form to whatever they want, and can even look like they're forty feet tall!"

Bast considered me carefully before answering. "Egypt is one of the oldest civilizations still around. Unfortunately a consequence of that is that those of us that belong to Egypt's pantheon belong more to a spiritual realm than this one. The gods that you know are stronger in this realm _because_ they are younger than us, and took more of an interest in the affairs of mortals and as a consequence are able to do more things in this realm."

* * *

By the time we arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, all the mummies had been killed and the carriers had been left far behind us and were probably still in the East Village. Bast then told Sadie to open a portal somewhere while she dealt with a threat that was coming. Now, I wasn't going to let her fight alone, so I stayed with the cat goddess who quickly formed a golden avatar of her hieroglyphic self-the cat headed woman that any good Egyptologist would easily identify as Bast.

Sadie failed to open the portal, and by the time the opportunity had passed, an army of scorpions had appeared from the bushes and I pulled my sword, ready for anything, or so I thought. When a woman came forward in the midst of the scorpions wearing a super-sized scorpion _on her head_ , I realized that I had no idea what I was getting into. Bast quickly identified the woman as Serqet, goddess of scorpions and ordered us to get inside a temple for protection, I gladly followed that order and ran.


End file.
